Ohio parental consent law on hold

Jan. 26—LIMA — The first official social media website was launched in 1997. Since then, many sites have come and gone as a way to engage the general public with one another. The rise of its popularity made room for some people to be for or against it. Lawmakers across the United States have attempted to mandate parental consent for users under 16. In Ohio, a new law that was set to take place in January was placed on hold.

"This law aims to give parents more control over their children creating new social media accounts," Attorney General Dave Yost said in a previous press release. "So just like any other time, if you feel like you've been wronged by a company, we take those complaints and work to resolve any issues — this is no different."

Ohio is not the first state to attempt a parental consent law. The states of Utah, Louisiana and Arkansas have also presented legislation.

Teens' use of social media

Students locally use social media for relief and communication. Lima Central High School students weighed in on the potential law and why parental consent may be helpful.

"It just depends on the kid," high school senior Billy Bourk said. "Some kids at the age of 16 are extremely mature and probably would handle themselves fine on a social media platform. But, there also are some kids that need that consent — I think this is going to be put in place and we are going to see how it will go because this has not been tested before."

Currently, teenagers and young adults have not lived in a world without social media. High school senior Mya Raczyaski said the various platforms have helped her to become a better version of herself.

"If I did not have social media, I would be a completely different person," Raczyaski said. "If I did not have social media as a way to think about things, who knows if my ideas would ever be challenged, who knows what I would be thinking now? Now, you have to search and make sure you are getting the correct facts — it allowed me to think about other things in a different light that I do not think I would have thought of before."

Current status of the legislation

Originally, the law was going to be implemented beginning Jan. 15.

According to a new article from The Associated Press, NetChoice is filing a lawsuit against Yost.

"We at NetChoice believe families equipped with educational resources are capable of determining the best approach to online services and privacy protections for themselves," Director Chris Marchese said in the article. "With NetChoice v. Yost, we will fight to ensure all Ohioans can embrace digital tools without their privacy, security and rights being thwarted."

NetChoice v. Yost

In the previous press release announcing the law, the state of Ohio said the law was to help grant parents "oversight" and options to "censor" content.

"Social media is a huge part of communication nowadays," Bourk said. "You hear all the horror stories — it can lead to many different bad things — but it can also serve a lot of good if you are using it the right way. I once heard an analogy that said fire contained in a fireplace is a wonderful thing to heat your home but (without containment) it can also bring destruction. So that's kind of the role it just plays."

Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.